Screenplay by Christopher PenfoldDirected by Charles CrichtonEdited by Alan Killick

&QUOT;If this is the end of one life, we have to start to build a new one - to live like human beings again.&QUOT;

As the Moon approaches the planet Ariel, hundreds of alien devices land on the lunar surface. Fearing an attack, the Alphans are surprised when the devices emit oxygen and turn the Moon into an atmosphere-rich world with blue skies and a warm sun. The Alphans enjoy their new-found freedom on the lunar surface and Helena leads a reconnaissance team to scout for a new settlement on higher ground, but their Eagle is caught in a violent storm and crashes, stranding them miles from Alpha. As search parties attempt to locate the missing Eagle, Koenig and Bergman realise that the Moon is not going into orbit around Ariel - without sunlight, the atmosphere will shrink into an icecap and Alpha will be crushed!

Prentis Hancock cites this as his favourite episode of the series, as he was given considerably more to do than usual. The actors relished the opportunity to get outside the confines of the Pinewood Studios soundstages and into the open air, even if it was only into the backlot where the scenes of the Alphans greeting the Moon's first rainfall were filmed. This sequence was shot two weeks after principal photography on the episode had been completed, during filming of Voyager's Return.

Alpha appears to have an extremely unusual design feature for a base sited in the airless vacuum of the lunar surface when Koenig is seen opening one of the windows in technical section. However, in a short sequence cut from the original script, technicians were to be seen specially fitting this new opening window in technical section, as the Alphans fully expected the Moon's new atmosphere to be permanent. Later, when it becomes apparent that this is not so, another omitted sequence had Koenig ordering the new windows to be replaced immediately.

Much of the incidental music in this episode was originally composed and recorded by Barry Gray for earlier Gerry Anderson productions: the Stingray episode Raptures Of The Deep, the Thunderbird 6 feature film, the Joe 90 episode King For A Day and The Secret Service's A Case For The Bishop. One piece was originally recorded as a library track for Supercar in October 1960, fourteen years earlier!

&QUOT;This is the voice of Voyager One. Greetings from the people of the planet Earth.&QUOT;

Alpha encounters Voyager One, an Earth probe ship launched in 1985. Due to a tragic miscalculation in the design of the ship's Queller Drive engine, Voyager has spent the last fifteen years polluting space with toxic fast neutrons which will destroy Alpha unless the Drive can be shut down! Koenig turns to Dr. Ernst Linden to come up with a scheme to override the probe's security codes and deactivate the Queller Drive, and Linden confesses that he is the only man capable of doing so, for he is really Ernst Queller, designer of the fatal drive unit. Linden successfully shuts down the probe's engine but then a greater menace appears in the form of three Sidon spacecraft, seeking revenge for the destruction that Voyager One has wrought upon their worlds.

Filming Schedule:

Wednesday, August 7th - Monday, August 26th, 1974

Original UK Airdate: Thursday, October 9th, 1975 (ATV Midlands)

Notes:

This episode marks the series debut of director Bob Kellett, the temporary replacement for David Tomblin while he was engaged on Barry Lyndon (1975). Kellett made a noted film debut as the director of A Home Of Your Own (1964), but prior to his Space:1999 work he was best-known for a series of bawdy comedies, including Up The Chastity Belt (1971), Up The Front (1972) and The Garnett Saga (1972). Post-1999, he directed Spanish Fly (1976) and Are You Being Served? (1977).

Some of the incidental music in this episode was originally composed by Barry Gray for the Thunderbirds episode 30 Minutes After Noon, the Thunderbird 6 feature film and the The Secret Service episode Last Train To Bufflers Halt.

Guest Artists:

Jeremy Kemp (real name Edmund Walker) was one of the original regular cast of Z Cars, the long-running BBC police drama. Kemp appeared in the controversial role of P.C. Bob Steele, revealed to be a wife-beater, and left the series in 1965 to pursue a career in films. He appeared in Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors (1965), Operation Crossbow (1965), The Blue Max (1966), Assignment K (1967) and The Games (1970) and later went on to roles in The Belstone Fox (1973), The Seven Per Cent Solution (1976), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Caravans (1978), The Prisoner Of Zenda (1979), Top Secret! (1984) When The Whales Came (1989) and Four Weddings And A Funeral (1994). On television, he has been seen as Brigadier General Armin Von Roon in both The Winds Of War and War And Remembrance, and guested in episodes The Mind Beyond, Shades Of Darkness, The Greatest American Hero (twice), The Fall Guy and Murder She Wrote, but he will probably be best-remembered for his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard's brother Robert in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Family. He recently had a recurring role as Hissah Zul in the Conan TV series.

Barry Stokes made his film debut in The Corruption Of Chris Miller (1973), but he had previously been seen as a Skydiver Engineer in two episodes of Gerry Anderson's UFO, Destruction and Reflections In The Water. He went on to appear in The Ups And Downs Of A Handyman (1975), Lady Oscar (1978), Spaced Out (1979), Hawk The Slayer (1980) and Alien Prey (1984), and was seen on television in the Long Live The King episode of the BBC's Survivors series. He also appeared in the mini-series The Last Days Of Pompeii but was last seen as Huck in Enemy Mine (1985).

Alex Scott is one of 60s and 70s British television's most prolific performers, although few people know him by name. He came to prominence as Don Pedro in the ATV series Sir Francis Drake and has made numerous television guest appearances - mostly in villainous roles - in series such as The Invisible Man, The Avengers, Adam Adamant Lives!, Doomwatch, Shadows and the ITC series The Saint, Man In A Suitcase, The Persuaders!, Jason King and The Zoo Gang. His feature film appearances include The Sicilians (1963), The Blue Max (1966), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), Twins Of Evil (1972), Sky Pirates (1986) and Peter's Friends (1992).

Screenplay by Anthony TerpiloffDirected by Ray AustinEdited by Alan Killick

&QUOT;I go to shape the future of eternity. And I need your help.&QUOT;

Carter is caught in the explosion of an asteroid but is saved by the intervention of an aged alien woman named Arra. Koenig and Morrow rescue him but discover that the Moon is on a collision course with the planet Atheria, 34 times the size of the Moon. Bergman determines that the only way to avoid the collision is to detonate a chain of nuclear mines in space so that the resulting shockwave will alter the Moon's course. An alien ship appears between the Moon and Atheria and when Koenig investigates he meets Arra who tells him that their destinies are predetermined and her people have awaited the Moon's arrival for millenia: to bring about a great mutation in Arra's people, the Moon and Atheria must be allowed to collide!

Filming Schedule:

Tuesday, August 27th - Tuesday, September 10th, 1974

Original UK Airdate: Thursday, September 18th, 1975 (ATV Midlands)

Notes:

Arra's throne proved to be a versatile piece of furniture - it later appeared as Companion's bed in The Infernal Machine and The Archon's throne in The Dorcons.

Arra's ship appears again in The Metamorph - it is one of the alien ships lying in the spaceship graveyard on Psychon.

Some of the incidental music in this episode was originally composed by Barry Gray for the Captain Scarlet episode Codename Europa, the Thunderbird 6 feature film and the Joe 90 episodes Operation McClaine, Big Fish, Business Holiday, Arctic Adventure and Trial At Sea.

Guest Artists:

Margaret Leighton was one of Britain's most prolific and respected stage and screen actresses with appearances in over 30 feature films including The Winslow Boy (1948), The Good Die Young (1954), The Sound And The Fury (1959) and The Go-Between (1971) for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for her supporting role as Mrs. Maudsley. She made her film debut in Bonnie Prince Charlie (1947), and went on to appear in Under Capricorn (1949), The Elusive Pimpernel (1950), Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951), The Holly And The Ivy (1952), Carrington VC (1954), Seven Women (1965), The Madwoman Of Chaillot (1969), Lady Caroline Lamb (1972), From Beyond The Grave (1973) and Trial By Combat (1976). Her television appearances were rare, but she made guest appearances on The F.B.I., The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. and the original series of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and also starred as Lady Fanshawe in Frankenstein: The True Story. Collision Course was one of her last screen appearances before her death in 1976, aged 54. She was married to actors Laurence Harvey (1957-1960) and Michael Wilding (from 1964).

After receiving an invitation to visit the frozen planet of Ultima Thule, Koenig, Helena, Bergman and Carter land on the surface and soon find themselves lost in a blizzard. Carter manages to make his way back to the Eagle while the others are rescued by the survivors of the Uranus Expeditionary Probe of 1986, believed to have been lost in a proton storm. The Alphans meet Dr. Cabot Rowland who reveals that his group have survived on Ultima Thule for 880 years and none has aged a single day! Now they are attempting to rebuild their damaged ship and Rowland fosters dreams of travelling the stars as an immortal god. He invites the Alphans to give up their lunar home and join them on Thule, but Koenig learns his terrible secret...

Filming Schedule:

Wednesday, September 11th - Monday, September 23rd, 1974

Original UK Airdate: Thursday, October 2nd, 1975 (ATV Midlands)

Notes:

During filming, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain flatly refused to work on the ice cavern set until specialists confirmed that the fumes it gave off were non-toxic. Chemicals in the snow used in the blizzard scene took the top layer of skin off Landau's face.

Some of the incidental music in this episode was originally composed by Barry Gray for the Thunderbirds episode 30 Minutes After Noon and the Joe 90 episode Big Fish.

Guest Artists:

Brian Blessed is one of Britain's best-loved character actors. He first came to prominance as one of the original regular cast of Z Cars in which he played P.C. William 'Fancy' Smith, and went on to appear as Porthos in the BBC's 1966 adaptation of The Three Musketeers. Working mainly in television throughout the 60s and 70s, Blessed starred as Mark of Cornwall in Arthur Of The Britons, William Woodcock in Boy Dominic, Jack Treadful in Nobody's House and Augustus Caesar in I, Claudius, and made numerous guest appearances in series such as The Avengers (twice), Survivors, Blakes 7, The Sweeney, Minder, Hadleigh, Public Eye, Justice, Churchill's People and Roald Dahl's Tales Of The Unexpected. He later appeared as King Richard IV in The Black Adder, Long John Silver in John Silver's Return To Treasure Island, General Yevlenko in War And Remembrance, Basileos in The Aphrodite Inheritance, Spiro in My Family And Other Animals and made a notable guest appearance in the Doctor Who story Mindwarp. Blessed's film roles include Pedro in Man Of La Mancha (1972), Suleiman Khan in High Road To China (1983), Exeter in Henry V (1989), Lord Locksley in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (1991) and Edward The Confessor in Macbeth (1997), but his own favourite film role was that of Prince Vultan, leader of the Hawkmen, in Flash Gordon (1980). He made a second guest appearance in Space:1999, as Maya's father Mentor in The Metamorph, and between the two he starred as Tom Bowen in Gerry Anderson's The Day After Tomorrow pilot film. He recently appeared as Squire Western in the BBC production of Tom Jones and will shortly be seen in the new Star Wars film and a BBC adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World. Blessed is married to actress Hildegard Neil, seen as Elizia in Devil's Planet.

John Shrapnel is a Shakespearean actor who made his television debut as Sussex in the classic BBC serial Elizabeth R. He went on to roles in the feature films Nicholas And Alexandra (1971), Pope Joan (1972) and Hennessy (1975), but he has mainly been seen on television, as Major Hardings in Edward & Mrs. Simpson, Lord Steyne in Vanity Fair, Detective Blake in Dennis Potter's Blackeyes, and Gerd Schulte-Hillen in Selling Hitler. His other film work includes Testimony (1988), How To Get Ahead In Advertising (1989), Two Deaths (1995) and England My England (1995) and 101 Dalmatians (1996). Most recently, he has been seen as Commander MacIntyre in Bodyguards and Air Marshal Bentley in the BBC SF serial Invasion Earth.

David Ellison is best-known for his role as Sergeant Joe Beck in Juliet Bravo. He has also appeared in Catweazle, The Sweeney, The Enigma Files and the Hideout episode of Star Maidens. He is uncredited for his role in this episode,

Valerie Leon is reknowned for her glamourous roles in late Sixties/early-Seventies British sex comedies such as Carry On Up The Khyber (1968), Carry On Camping (1969), Carry On Again, Doctor (1969), The Rise And Rise Of Michael Rimmer (1970), Carry On Up The Jungle (1970), Carry On Matron (1972), No Sex, Please - We're British (1973), Carry On Girls (1973), Can You Keep It Up For A Week? (1974) and The Ups And Downs Of A Handyman (1975). However, she has also appeared in Blood From The Mummy's Tomb (1972), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), The Wild Geese (1978), Revenge Of The Pink Panther (1978) and Never Say Never Again (1983). She also made a brief guest appearance in the The Long Goodbye episode of The Persuaders!.

&QUOT;Oh, God, what has happened? What is happening to me? You must know me!&QUOT;

Eagle Six returns to Alpha after a reconnaissance mission to the planet Retha, but the crew are missing and the only occupant is a dead cave man. Koenig and Helena lead a rescue team to the planet but they too go missing. Carter is attacked by primitive humans and Sandra is kidnapped and taken to the primitives' cave dwelling where the cave chief takes an interest in her. As a fight breaks out over her, Sandra realises with horror that the chief and his mate are Koenig and Helena, somehow regressed to a primitive Cro Magnon state. She smashes a rock on the chief's head and escapes into the woods, pursued by the primatives. Discovering the cave dwelling, Bergman, Kano and Carter disturb a ceremony for the injured cave chief. The cave people scatter and Carter gives chase, unaware that the primitives he intends to shoot down to rescue Sandra are his Alphan colleagues.

Filming Schedule:

Tuesday, September 24th - Tuesday, October 8th, 1974

Original UK Airdate: Thursday, December 11th, 1975 (ATV Midlands)

Notes:

Scenes on the planet Retha were shot on the backlot at Pinewood Studios and in Black Park next door - this was the only location filming during Space:1999's first season and the only exterior filming apart from the rainfall sequence in The Last Sunset.

Director Bob Kellett reports that Barbara Bain relished the opportunity to "get down and dirty" in her cavewoman persona and would spend lunchtimes in her trailer practicing her animal-like screaming.

The percussive incidental music featured in this episode was Barry Gray's final contribution to the series, and his last work for Gerry Anderson.

Guest Artists:

Oliver Cotton is known mainly as a stage actor although he has been seen occasionally on television, as Cesare Borgia in The Borgias, Corbeau in John Silver's Return To Treasure Island, Lord Owen in Robin Of Sherwood, and a starring role in the short-lived 1993 BBC soap Westbeach. He has also made guest appearances in Boon, Bergerac, Preston Front and Sharpe. His film roles include Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush (1967), Firefox (1982), Eleni (1985), The Sicilian (1987), Hiding Out (1987), Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992), Son Of The Pink Panther (1993) and The Innocent Sleep (1995). More recently, he was seen as Tylan Gershom in the Protect And Survive episode of Gerry Anderson's Space Precinct and appeared in the BBC serial Rhodes. He will shortly be seen in the feature film Beowulf (1998).